YouTube: cheap web cam videos or professional productions?

There seem to still be so many misconceptions out there about what kind of videos work on YouTube and what people feel they need to be able to do with their videos to get good results from them.

The first misconception is that YouTube is mostly full of crappy webcam videos of stuff like people lipsyncing songs or ranting about their thought of the day.  While this does happen a fair amount (and maybe did dominate the site in its infancy) it’s now so much more than that.  I watch way more YouTube than television and am subscribed to over a hundred accounts from people who create great videos that are really entertaining.  If you give YouTube a good chance and spend some time looking through the site, especially areas like top viewed Comedy videos, you’ll find some of these too and probably get just as hooked into watching them as some TV shows.

Then on the flip side are the people who want to put up YouTube videos for themselves or their businesses, but feel that it would be really expensive and difficult to create videos that are of a high enough production value to get them good results.  The thing to keep in mind with YouTube videos though is that what the content is, is far more important than how the video was made.  Viral videos come in all forms and most are done on small budgets.  Viewers don’t expect to be watching a Hollywood movie when they watch videos on YouTube so it’s ok to keep it easy and simple.  Don’t let your equipment/budget, or lack thereof, keep you from putting up videos – if you have ideas, then get them shot even if it’s just average lighting and sound with a cheap camera and edited on Windows Movie Maker (the free editing software that PC’s have).

In this New Media Minute video YouTuber Nalts shares his thoughts on video quality:

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YouTube Comment of the Day:

liquornfrnt has made a comment on Father Lover (Mother Lover spoof):

Every time i hear this I laugh my ass off, you should work for SNL